The new trend of crypto casinos is very popular all around the world. We can see so many new bitcoin casinos popping up by every day. The reason why they become so popular since they arrived in the gambling world is that people are noticing the benefits and advantages of Bitcoin cryptocurrency. One more reason why these casino types are so popular is the fact that players are taking advantage of this option in countries where gambling is illegal activity and crypto is still not recognized as official currency.
Crypto Gambling Technology
When we look deeper at the technology that stands behind this trendy bitcoin digital cryptocurrency, we can notice that there are some issues and troubles that governments across the world are facing with. In general, crypto gambling refers to using and investing bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in online gambling activities. Now, Bitcoin can be used as a payment method as well as other traditional and official currencies including the dollar, euro, pound coin, etc. However, the main confusion about Bitcoin usage is how it is regulated and why it is so hard for the governments to control it.
You should know that Bitcoin actually uses special blockchain technology and this is broken down into what is known as either off-chain or on-chain technology. When it comes to the off-chain ones, it is used for both traditional land-based casinos and online gambling platforms that are accepting Bitcoin currency. In that process, third-party companies are converting Bitcoin into a local currency in order to enable placing bets to the players.
When it comes to on-chain technology it is a more advanced way of crypto that uses a coded transaction consisting of smart contracts via a decentralized app, well known as Dapp. Instead of using third-party companies that exchange currencies, a smart contract uses backend code within a blockchain network. This makes on-chain technology safer than off-chain one. Bitcoin is the leading on-chain crypto platform. Since the usage of Bitcoin is so popular worldwide in the financial aspect, governments can not ignore it. This especially counts for gambling activity.
How are Governments trying to Regulate Cryptocurrency Gambling?
Governments all around the world are regulating the online gambling platforms that are not licensed by simply banning the IP addresses of their websites. In case they want to use the same strategy to ban crypto casinos, it will be much easier to achieve this if the online platform is using off-chain technology since it has a centralized setup. However, users with off-chain technology can avoid these IP address bans if they use VPN access in other regions where the ban is not used. This can look like a difficult task, however, gamblers are willing to do this in order to gamble with Bitcoin.
On the other hand, when it comes to the improved on-chain technology, it comes with more control difficulties since it is not centralized. Platforms that use this crypto technology do not have a particular IP address, so the governments can not physically ban them. In the case of this on-chain technology, numerous computer servers located all around the world host it and this is the reason why countries have difficulties regulating crypto gambling.
The UK
The United Kingdom is a country with a long history of gambling, both for traditional land-based one and online gambling. Therefore, it is not strange that they are one of the first countries to try to put regulations on using cryptocurrencies in the gambling world.
However, there is one problem. Even they are willing to accept this and find a regulation for proceeding with Bitcoin, the problem lies in the fact that this is not recognizable as a legal tender. However, the government in the UK decided on another approach. More precisely, they brought a law in 2016 that allows UK gambling license casino holders to accept this modern payment method.
The USA
When it comes to the government in the USA, we need to say that they are slowly starting to legalize online gambling. However, they are not mentioning a lot about online Bitcoin casinos. In fact, there are numerous different gambling articles on the Internet that talks about complication regarding Bitcoin casinos and their legality of them in the US.
In general, the conclusion is that online gambling is not technically illegal in the government’s eyes and federal law. Unfortunately, the crucial answer on whether Americans are allowed to use this payment method on the wide range of gambling websites is not positive. It is not allowed to them to make this financial transaction through the websites located in the US. When it comes to the current crypto gambling situation we can say that Bitcoin is disregarded as a currency. Therefore, there is no real current law towards it. However, t is important to know that this means that cryptocurrency is considered a commodity so it brings taxes. Players can gamble with Bitcoin, however, all the profit they make will be taxed.
Japan
Even though Japan is one of the countries that are incredibly popular for gambling activity, it is also well-known that the governments here are conducting strict regulations. In fact, crypto gambling online platforms are under strict gambling rules. However, the law they declared recently changes some things when it comes to the physical casinos and their activities in the future. Since Japan become open to physical gambling form by allowing land-based casinos, many people think and believe that online gambling rules are going to change. This especially counts for allowing Bitcoin currency as a method of payment.
We need to mention that the Japanese government even made the agreement with Tron(Trix) – which is a popular decentralized crypto platform. In this agreement, the government does not allow Japanese gamblers to access the gambling Dapps. Many people were very surprised to hear this since it looks like the governments could not ignore the pressure and power of this on-chain technology. However, by using VPN access, Japanese gamblers can still play with Bitcoin.
